Are You “Jeopardy!” Material? Try Your National Archives Knowledge

Are You “Jeopardy!” Material? Try Your National Archives Knowledge

The National Archives is reliving the glory of its appearance on the game show "Jeopardy!" with a May 12 public viewing of the episode, which aired in January and featured an entire category devoted to historical treasures housed in the archives.That was life imitating art for us: The...

The National Archives is reliving the glory of its appearance on the game show “Jeopardy!” with a May 12 public viewing of the episode, which aired in January and featured an entire category devoted to historical treasures housed in the archives.

When the “Jeopardy!” staff arrived at the archives headquarters in Washington, DC, to shoot video, visitors swarmed Trebek. He and the Clue Crew filmed in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom, the Public Vaults, and the exhibition “BIG! Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the National Archives.”

Would you be a “Jeopardy!” champion? Remember to frame your responses as questions. (The correct responses are at the end of this post.)

For $200: In 1940, in a letter to the president this then 14-year old future world leader asked FDR for a $10 bill. Yet he doesn’t cash the checks we send him for Guantanamo.

For $400: American history might’ve been very different if this future country had agreed to the offer of statehood contained in Article 11 of the Articles of Confederation.

For $600: No one knows how it got there, but there’s a handprint in the lower left-hand corner of this important national document, just beneath the concluding words “and our sacred honor.”

For $800: One of the archives’ treasures is a 1912 wax cylinder recording, like this one, of this American president talking about his Progressive Party’s movement for social and industrial justice.

For $1,000: The Constitution was signed by representatives of each of the 13 colonies except for this one, which opposed increasing federal power. Because it was the last to ratify, it is now our 13th state.

Correct responses$200: Who is Fidel Castro?$400: What is Canada?$600: What is the Declaration of Independence?$800: Who is Theodore Roosevelt?$1000: What is Rhode Island?